On My Own
A "The Dimension Walker" Short Story
Summary: Leo was convinced the Fates hated him. He and Calypso were supposed to return to Camp Half-Blood. He was supposed to be reunited with his friends. Things were supposed to be semi-normal again. But no, that wasn't the case. Calypso turned out to be a backstabbing liar. Ogygia was a dimension where time literally stopped. Camp Half-Blood had changed. And, the most important of all, his friends were gone.
Disclaimer: I do not own Leo Valdez. He belongs to Uncle Rick. Also, some OC's do not belong to me, but belong to my friend Cara, aka Carabootoo.
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~Chapter Four~
~Thomas~
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Thomas was fine. He was calm. He wasn't going to freak out, nor was he going to scream out loud. Oh, who was he kidding? He lost it. What the hell was going on? Gods weren't real, nor were demigods. They were just myths, made-up characters used to explain things like lightning and death. There was no way they could actually be real. This had got to be a prank. One of the Pops must've had borrowed money from their rich daddies and set up this elaborate prank to mess with Thomas. But then again, the Pops spent most of their time gossiping and making sure they were still the queens and kings of the school. They wouldn't know the first thing about Greek/Roman mythology. But still, there was no way this could be actually happening to him. This was like something out of his fantasy books, something that he and Connie could only dream about. This was reality, not fiction. If it was fiction, Thomas wouldn't be stuck with a horrible father. He would've gotten his letter to Hogwarts or made it to Camp Half-Blood or—
Wait a fucking minute...
It wasn't a coincidence that Valdez matched the description and he had the same dragon from TLH cover. No amount of makeup could make someone look exactly like someone Thomas had seen in fanarts and official art (but honestly, the official art wasn't very good). It was just...impossible.
Coach Wood jabbed her pilum downward, piercing the shadow's chest. Scelus Sceleris let out a howl, and evaporated into thin air. The blonde woman gave a toothy grin, twirling her spear like a pro. Valdez stared at her in shock. He opened his mouth to say something, but Thomas beat him to it.
"This can't be real!" he cried. "No, no fucking way. This is impossible. Gods aren't real. Monsters aren't real. Demigods aren't real."
"They are, Floros," Coach Wood said. "The gods are very much alive."
"Nonononononononononononononononononononononono," Thomas chanted over and over again. "This is not real. This is not real. This is impossible."
"Uh...hate to break it to you," Valdez said. "But I'm living proof of the gods being real. My dad's Hephaestus, ya know."
"I'm dreaming," Thomas muttered, closing his eyes. "I'm still on the bus, asleep. We're still driving to Cerise."
"Floros..." Coach tried to say.
"This is all a dream...and when I open my eyes, I'm still on my seat on the bus."
"Thomas..." Coach said again, gentler.
Thomas opened his eyes, and glared up at the sky. "Why the hell is this happening me?! What have I ever done to deserve this?! My father's an abusive asshole! All the kids at school are either scared of me or hate me! I NEVER GOT TO MEET MY MOM, WHO WOULD'VE BEEN A BETTER PARENT THAN MY FATHER!" Tears started to blur his vision. "Απάντησέ μου, ρε γαμώ!" [Translation: Answer me, goddammit!]
A flash of lightning lit up the sky, and a loud crack of thunder boomed. Thomas clenched his jaw, and looked at Coach Wood.
"Can you sense my aura?" he asked, numbly.
She nodded. "I got it from my father, Richard Wood. I can see into your aura, and find out what you are. The stronger your aura, the easier it is for me to find out."
"What am I?" Thomas asked. "Who am I?"
A shadow crossed her face. "You're Thomas Floros, and you are the son of a Protogenos, a primordial."
Thomas let it sink in. "Okay...which one?"
"I don't know," Coach sighed. "But, I do know is that it's a goddess, since you live with your father. And I've seen your father, and he reeks of mortality."
"Can you, like, narrow it down?"
She shook her head. "You'll be claimed once we get to camp."
"Camp Half-Blood?" Valdez asked, hopefully.
"Nope. A different camp."
"Camp Jupiter?" Thomas asked.
"No."
"Then where?" Thomas and Valdez whined in unison.
"Camp Walker in Ocean View, Oregon."
Valdez's shoulders slumped. "Listen, that sounds cool and all...but I really gotta get to CHB to see my friends. So—"
Coach Wood grabbed Valdez by his collar. "Oh no you don't, muffin. You are going to Camp Walker to figure some things out. So, put your dragon in suitcase mode—don't give me that look, I know there is a suitcase mode on that thing. Floros get your bags, and you two follow me."
/~Ω~\
The bus had drove off, probably because Thomas' classmates saw something. Thomas prayed that it scarred them for life.
They hiked through the woods, with Coach Wood leading them. Valdez dragged the dragon suitcase—and by "dragon suitcase", Thomas meant the dragon that turned into a suitcase—with ease, which was impressive considering it must've been real heavy. Thomas was texting Connie. Connie had sent him a couple of pictures. The first few were of her in the car, joking around with her brothers and reading a book. The rest were of her arriving standing in front of a fancy cabin, hanging out with friends, and at this fancy open-air pavilion. He smiled faintly. Every year after school year ended, Connie would go to this summer camp for "gifted and talented" kids. Connie said the place was absolutely amazing and she made a lot of friends there. Thomas sometimes wished he could go to that camp with her, but Connie never told him where the camp was or what was its name. She would always refer to this camp as "CW" or just camp. Though, he knew his father would never let him leave.
After sending a few texts, Thomas quickly stuffed his phone in his pockets. Valdez was looking over his shoulder, grinning broadly. Thomas could feel his cheeks heating up, and he coughed awkwardly. Valdez chuckled, waggling his eyebrows.
"Girlfriend?" he asked.
"What? No," Thomas muttered. "Pen-pal. I don't swing that way."
"Really?" Valdez arched a brow. "I mean, with that bad boy, goth/emo look you got going on, I thoght you'd have a lot of fine girls chasing after you."
Thomas glared daggers at him. "Shut up, Valdez. Unless you want a steel-toed leather boot up your ass."
He snorted. "Wow, aren't you a ray of sunshine."
"I hate sunshine," Thomas deadpanned.
"Of course," Valdez rolled his eyes. "I think you and my friend's brother would get along nicely."
"You're annoying."
"Thank you, I try my very best."
"Do you take every insult as a compliment?"
"Kinda, maybe."
"You're insufferable."
"I'm a pro at being insufferable."
Thomas groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You stupid, annoying, insufferable, cute, idiotic, immature, funny, dumb, endearing, jerky ass—"
"Waitwaitwait," Valdez smirked. "Some of those words aren't insults. Did you call me cute and funny? And did you say I was endearing?"
His ears turned red. "NO!"
"Oh, I get it. You like me."
"No I don't!"
"You're denying it; you must really like me."
Thomas smacked him upside the head, and caught up with Coach. Coach Wood glanced over, smiling softly. Thomas grumbled, scowling deeply. He glared at the ground below him, kicking at the twigs and leaves scattered around him. There were more important things to deal with at the moment. Valdez was so immature. Thomas was just simply listing off the things that could describe him, nothing more and nothing less. There was nothing implying that he liked him, nothing at all. Valdez was just reading into things too much.
"So..." Thomas said, glancing up at the blonde woman. "How are we going to get to Oregon?"
"You'll see," Coach smiled.
"Oh no...you're doing the mysterious tone."
"Calm down, Floros! You're a tough muffin, remember? It's not like we're going to fight off dragons or battling with some gods!"
"E-Excuse me?" Thomas' eyes went wide, like a deer caught in the headlights.
The blonde woman stopped, and pointed ahead of her. "There it is!"
Nestled deep in the forest was an train station, with vintage steam engines rolling in and conductors wearing old-fashioned uniforms. It was like the train station from Harry Potter, except more modernized. Waiting on the platforms were a small number of people; the youngest being six or seven and the eldest being sixteen or seventeen. Little kids ran around, laughing and smiling brightly. Teens chatting to one another or were on their phones. A few adults were saying their goodbyes to the kids, smiling sadly. Rosie jutted her chin towards the ticket booth, and the group snuck behind it.
"Uh...what exactly are we doing?" Thomas asked.
"What does it look like?" Valdez asked, tapping his finger on the handle of the suitcase. "We're sneaking into a ticket booth."
Thomas smacked Valdez's forehead. "Idiot! That's not what I meant."
"Um, ow!" Valdez hissed.
Thomas rolled his eyes. "You'll live, Valdez."
"It still hurts, Tommy."
"Don't call me Tommy, Valdez."
"Whatever, Tommy."
"Why I oughta..."
"Boys!" Coach hissed. "Getting to camp first, arguing later. The reason why were behind the ticket booth is because there's a portal here."
"Portal?" Thomas asked.
Coach nodded. She placed her hand over the backdoor, and the ground underneath her glowed. A wooden trapdoor appeared underneath Coach Wood's feet. They backed up as the trapdoor swung open. Coach smirked, and quickly jumped down the hole. Thomas looked at Valdez, who shrugged. Both boys carefully went down the hole, almost tripping over each other during the process.
"This suitcase is fucking heavy!" Thomas snapped.
"That's because it's my dragon!" Valdez snapped back.
"Isn't there a mode to make him smaller so that he could just rest on your shoulder?"
He blinked. "Huh...I should add that..."
Thomas groaned, rolling his eyes. He looked around, his jaw instantly dropping.
The dirt walls had large roots and rocks sticking out, along with doors and swirling portals on the walls. Each door had a different design to them. One door was a Japanese sliding paper door, while another was made of limestone and had Egyptian hieroglyphics carved into it. All of the portals were a different color, but each of them had a swirl of black in the middle. Teens and adults went in and out through the portals and doors, choosing which one to go through with ease. Every single one of them were carrying weapons, ranging from old-fashioned swords and spears to futuristic guns and crossbows. They barely noticed as they walked passed the group. The hard, stone ground was covered with strange items, like socks, scrolls, old toys, and books.
"What...is this place?" Thomas asked.
"The Caverns," Coach said. "Those doors and portals? Those are what we call 'Rabbit Holes'. They are doorways to different worlds, different dimensions."
"Wait, 'we'?" Valdez asked.
The blonde woman nodded. "When I mean 'we', I mean Dimension Walkers."
"Dimension Walkers?" Thomas bit his lip. "That's what you said your father was, right?"
Coach nodded. "Dimension Walkers are a race of people with special powers and the ability to travel through dimensions. My father is an Earth Elemental, a power class. I'm known as a 'mutt', which is a Dimension Walker that is also a child of a god/goddess. Though, some Dimension Walkers are children of gods. But, that's a lesson for when you get to camp."
"Back up," Valdez said, stopping in his tracks. "Dimension Walkers sounds like something outta sci-fi movies. If you think Tommy's a DW, why are you bringing me to this 'camp'?"
"You're a mutt, Valdez," Coach simply said.
"No," Valdez said. "Last I checked, I'm a full blown demigod. No freaky DW powers in me at all."
"Yes, you are, muffin. I can sense it. It seems you're one of the rarities, the DW's that come from families with no ancestry of Dimension Walkers in their bloodline." Coach tilted her head. "Just...we just don't now what you are. You could be one of the new power classes, or one of the rare, ancient ones."
Valdez looked down at his hands, as if waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, faint flickering flames danced across his palms. Thomas' jaw dropped as he watched him, while Coach eyed him warily.
"Let's keep moving," she muttered. "Things will make more sense once we get to camp."
They continued walking down the tunnels, taking a few twists and turns. Everything looked the same that Thomas thought they were going in circles. The only thing that changed were the doors and portals, but the rest were the same. Thomas was just about ready to turn back and run off. God knows how long they've been in these tunnels for. It could've been days, weeks, or even months. Everything seemed to go on forever.
Then, they stopped in front of a door. It wasn't much; just a mahogany door with a bronze doorknob. Behind the door, however, Thomas could see a faint, golden light. Coach quickly turned the knob and opened the door. A valley was on the other side of the door. They stepped through the door, and Thomas got a good look of the place.
They stood upon a tall hill that overlooked the valley. A large pine tree stood in the middle of the hill, with something silver glittering in the tree branches. The valley was large, probably larger than five or six football fields. Towards the west, there was a large beach with a long dock. The sea was shimmering blue; the waves lazily crashing onto the shore. From the beach, there was a small river with crystal blue waters, leading towards a small lake towards the forest. Nestled near the trees, a few kilometers away from the hill, there was a four-story, Victorian-styled house with a wrap-around porch. The house was white with black trimmings, reminding Thomas of a farmhouse from the country. A silver weather vane in the shape of a fairy on the roof, and a large maple-tree shaded the house. There were some Grecian columns on the front porch, which was odd. Maybe the builder was going for some Greek influences on the house, or maybe he forgot that the house was supposed to be Victorian. Thomas didn't know. Across from the house, maybe close to the forest, was a cluster of cabins—maybe over twenty of them—arranged in a rectangle. A few feet away from the cluster, a bit closer to the house, were thirteen cabins. They were arranged in a crescent around a central green area with a large hearth in the middle.
There were a lot of campers, maybe a little over eighty in total. Some were kids, while others were teens. All of them were pretty diverse, and wore different clothing. There were other...creatures at camp too. Some were fairies, others were these elf-like people, and the rest were nymphs. Thomas understood why the camp was so large.
"Damn..." Thomas gasped.
"A beauty, ain't it?" Coach Wood chuckled.
They walked down the hill, heading towards the Victorian house. Campers stopped in their tracks, staring at the group with large eyes. Everyone started whispering and pointing at Valdez, their eyes full of confusion and nervousness. A few kids started running off towards the cabins, bring out more and more kids. Once they got to the house, almost the whole camp was staring at them. Coach Wood stepped onto the porch, where two adults were arguing.
The first adult was a man, probably in his thirties. He was tall and muscular, with tanned, olive skin. His hair was bluish-black, shaggy but neat. He had dark blue eyes that seemed to be full of wisdom and power. The man wore a navy-blue shirt underneath a black dress jacket, dark grey slacks, and black loafers. On his head was a dark grey fedora with a dark blue strip of cloth. He reminded Thomas of a ruthless mafia boss, with a heavy Italian accent and motioning his hands angrily.
The second adult was a woman in her late twenties, early thirties. She was tall, slim, and curvy; like a graceful supermodel. Her hip-length, curly hair was black as a raven's feathers, with dark violet highlights streaked throughout her hair. The woman's eyes were constantly changing, like a rainbow kaleidoscope. As she argued with the Italian man, her eyes kept switching from sparkling amethyst to stormy grey to fiery amber. Her skin was fairly peachy, with freckles dotting her cheeks. But, the freckles looked as if they were slowly fading away. Thomas didn't know if the freckles were really faint or if the freckles were really fading. The woman wore a dark purple blouse, dark red heels, and a lacy, black skirt. A silver bejeweled circlet was wrapped around her head like a princess tiara. She was quite beautiful, and she spoke with a light French accent.
"The same day we send off campers on a quest," the French woman said, "one of our own goes missing! We must get back to Paradiso Caelesti immediatly, brother."
"Absolutely not," the Italian man said. "Sapphira said it herself, the prophecy has started. We must stay with our campers. We must be prepared."
"Our family needs us. S'il vous plaît, mon frère, je vous en supplie." [Translation: Please, brother, I am begging you.]
The Italian grumbled. "Fine, sister. But...Se la mia figlia torna da questa ricerca fatto del male e non posso essere al suo fianco, io ti biasimo.." [Translation: If my daughter comes back from this quest harmed and I cannot be by her side, I will blame you.]
"Ahem," Coach cleared her throat. "My lord, my lady...I have brought back two recruits."
They turned around and their eyes landed instantly on Valdez. The man glared daggers at him, while the woman arched her brow. Then, they turned to Coach Wood.
"You and Maria are in charged of the camp while we return to Paradiso Caelesti," the man said quickly. "Get Thomas Floros and Leo Valdez all aquainted and whatnot."
"We shall be back as quick as we can," the woman promised, sweetly.
Coach bowed her head. "As you wish, my lord and lady."
They nodded their heads, and quickly walked into the house. Coach turned around and narrowed her eyes at the gathering crowd of campers. Thomas gulped as the blonde pulled out her whistle and blew it. The campers quickly covered their ears, wincing and flinching. Coach just smirked, and pointed her baseball bat at everyone.
"Alright muffins! Lord Overseer and Lady Deamata must return to Paradiso Caelesti for a small crisis. Me and Maria are going to be in charge for the time being, and camp shall continue as normal. Also, meet the new fresh meat: Thomas Floros and Leo Valdez! All you give them a good Camp Walker welcome and remember our camp motto?"
"We are family in anything but blood," the campers shouted in enthusiasm.
Coach smiled broadly. "Now that's the spirit! Man...did I miss camp? Now, someone's gotta be their guide. I need to work on something in the office!"
Coach marched inside the house, and slammed the door shut. Thomas turned back to the campers, who were staring at him and Valdez. Thomas gulped, rubbing his arm. He hated having to speak in front of a lot of people. He was barely a people person, nor was he a friendly one. Luckily, Valdez saved him.
"So!" Valdez smiled. "I hear this is the party camp!"
No one laughed. They stared up at him, not moving or speaking. Valdez rubbed the back of his neck.
"Wow...tough crowd..." he laughed, awkwardly.
"Maybe you should try not to make a joke," Thomas remarked, rolling his eyes. "Not every one likes corny jokes, Valdez."
"Corny jokes are my forte, Tommy," Valdez pouted.
"Don't call me, Tommy!" Thomas snapped. "Or Tom! The only person who can call me 'Tom' is Connie—"
"Tom?" a soft voice called.
A strawberry blonde girl pushed her way through the crowd, and stumbled in front of Thomas. Her olive-green eyes were wide with excitement and surprise and a small smile spread across her pale, rosy lips. She wore a dark red dress with a golden sash wrapped around her waist. Her fuzzy pigtails were tied with large, white bows. Thomas' jaw dropped as she rushed forward and tackle-hugged him.
"Connie?" Thomas asked.
"Hey Tom," she laughed. "Welcome to Camp Walker, newbie."
...
Heya guys! I hope you like this chappie! This chapter kinda felt a little "eh" and rushed. Is it rushed? I don't know, maybe it's just me...
But anyways, thank you for the lovely reviews! This story has like 12 reviews and it only has a few chapters. Please don't stop reviewing! I love seeing your thoughts and compliments.
Next chapter will be Connie's POV and will introduce more of my OC's and some of Cara's OC's.
See ya next time!
~Ari